FELLOWS PROGRAM IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS FELLOWS BIOGRAPHIES · passion led her to a career as an advocacy journalist and to New York. After graduating from the Plan II Honors program at

FELLOWS PROGRAM IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 2017-2018 FELLOWS BIOGRAPHIES

The Fellows Program in New York is generously supported by Accenture, Capalino+Company, Goldman Sachs, HR&A Advisors, The Hudson Companies, The Moody’s Foundation, Related Companies, Scopia Capital Management, and the Senator Roy M. Goodman Fund.

Angelene Superable Bachelor of Arts in Political Science University of California, Berkeley, 2017 Angelene is committed to leading the next generation of policymakers passionate about improving the circumstances of the marginalized and disadvantaged. She attributes her passion for human and civil rights to her education at UC Berkeley and her amassed professional experiences. At Cal, Angelene founded Cal WriterCoach Connection, a mentorship program that connects Berkeley students with underserved middle and high school students in the Bay Area. During college, Angelene spent hundreds of hours at the San Francisco’s Public Defender’s Office writing legal motions and assembling the narratives of incarcerated individuals. Angelene also worked at Emerge America, a nonprofit that trains women to achieve political office. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Semester at Sea. During her Semester at Sea voyage, Angelene deconstructed the politics surrounding Sino-American relations, examined the controversies of transnational surrogacy in India, and discussed the human condition with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa. These experiences forced Angelene to critique her own privilege as a US citizen with access to higher education, ultimately compelling her to recognize that it is her duty—in bearing these privileges—to use them for the benefit of others. She looks forward to laying this vocational foundation through her Coro experience.

Bradley Weekes Hudson Companies Fellow Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History Brown University, 2017 Brad Weekes was born and raised in East New York, Brooklyn. Coming from a strong and empowered family and community, Brad was raised with a set core of values that focused on giving back to silenced individuals and poverty-stricken communities. He graduated from Brown University with a double major in Political Science and History with Honors. Brad was also a Fellow in the TEAK Fellowship, a rigorous academic nonprofit created to help low-income, but talented students attend top-tier high schools and colleges across the nation. During his college years, he worked three summers at TEAK as an English and High School Placement Teaching Assistant, as well as a member of the peer-driven Leadership Team. Brad hopes to continue to work on his skills as an active participant in assisting young minorities hoping to achieve academic and personal success. He is particularly interested in exploring how the media and politics can be used to aid and support poorer, disenfranchised communities. Brad is looking forward to using Coro to embrace experiential learning within New York City and gain community outreach skills to better assist underserved minority communities.



Cecil Brooks, Jr. Capalino+Company Fellow Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies and Philosophy Colby College, 2017 Cecil views a truly open marketplace as necessary for economic security and political stability in areas of poverty. A South Bronx native with Central American roots, he values the promise of capital with all the improvements investments can bring to the two places he calls home. His approach to development emphasizes deep relationship-building as a means to trade and prosperity. Cecil’s experience prior to Coro includes community outreach, philanthropy, diplomacy, law, and finance. He has had opportunities to fundraise for a series of environmental policy debates during the 2013 New York City Council race, propose investment strategies for emerging markets to a Foreign Service Officer at the American Embassy in Perú, and pitch a digital banking platform to more than 100 New England venture capitalists. Although Cecil’s curiosity and global citizenry have brought him to Africa, South America, and Asia, his aspiration to lead groundbreaking public-private partnerships brings him home – to the Big Apple. He looks most forward to witnessing experts debate and resolve policy issues, then seeing them infuse innovations into entrenched problems. Cecil recently earned his dual degree in Latin American Studies and Philosophy at Colby College. During his spare time, he enjoys writing poetry and skateboarding through neighborhoods.

Jenny Kutner Related Companies Fellow Bachelor of Arts in Women’s & Gender Studies The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Jenny Kutner is a feminist, advocate, and writer who works to highlight stories that historically have been marginalized. A native Houstonian raised by two transplanted New Yorkers, she has deep ties to Brooklyn—her home since 2013—and maintains an outsider’s perspective on New York City. Jenny’s formal education took place entirely in Texas public schools, where she learned and matured in diverse spaces—and saw her state failing its youth by denying students access to comprehensive sex education. Seeing a problem with a straightforward solution, Jenny developed a passion for promoting public health, reproductive justice, and gender equality. Combined with her lifelong love of words, that passion led her to a career as an advocacy journalist and to New York. After graduating from the Plan II Honors program at the University of Texas at Austin, she spent three years covering gender-based violence, women’s health, and racial justice for Salon and Mic. Her writing, which has been recognized by the New Yorker, CNN, and the Best American series, has also appeared at Vogue and Texas Monthly. As a Coro fellow, Jenny aims to develop new skills to affect change and discover avenues to social justice she might otherwise never explore.



Joshua Goldstein Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations Cornell University, 2017 Joshua (Josh) is dedicated to promoting institutional accountability for all individuals by seeking out multiple perspectives, especially those that are underrepresented, during decision-making processes. Josh’s religious upbringing taught him the value of loving your neighbor as yourself, and that love means committing to one another and building each other up—that we can only love our neighbors by actively reaching out, standing with, and listening to them. As president of Cornell’s Community Partnership Funding Board, Josh collaborated with Tompkins County stakeholders to create initiatives centered on food waste education, prisoner reentry programming, and college preparedness. In working with community and student activists, Josh established his listen-first and human-centered design approaches to community engagement work. Before beginning the Coro Fellowship, Josh served as a volunteer coordinator through UJA-Federation of NY, where he coordinated volunteer engagement for weekly events with over twenty NYC nonprofit organizations. Josh hopes his time as a Coro Fellow will help him continue to translate his social justice-related ideals into action by exposing him to the intricacies of socioeconomic and racial inequities in NYC, and providing him opportunities to work with innovators who are at the frontlines of these issues.

Mariel Charles Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy Studies Duke University, 2015 Mariel Charles joins Coro with a deep dedication towards creating culturally responsive spaces that foster trust, communication, development, and growth, especially among historically disenfranchised communities. Prior to Coro, Mariel taught 7th grade Language Arts and Law Studies, where she prioritized these spaces while learning the values of patience, understanding, adaptability, and love from each of her students. As a proud New Yorker from the South Bronx, Mariel has experienced first-hand the impact that policy decisions have on the livelihood of a neighborhood. She is truly humbled to return to her community and partner with Coro to foster the relationships and practical skills necessary for enacting the urgent change New York City deserves. Mariel is a 2015 graduate of Duke University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy Studies and certification in Markets and Management.



Marielle Martiney Propel Capital Fellow Bachelor of Arts in Politics Princeton University, 2014 Marielle Villar Martiney is pursuing an exhilarating and fulfilling career 180: transitioning from the private sector to the public sector. Her passion for innovative, equitable, and sustainable policies was born following one memorable seminar in Urban Studies 101 at Princeton (’14), which centered on Bolivia’s Cochabamba Water Wars. Three years later, Marielle’s senior thesis analyzed the political saliency of Bolivia’s Water Wars and was nominated for outstanding publication in Princeton’s Environmental Institute. At Princeton, Marielle was also awarded the Bobst Center for Peace and Justice Grant to fund a fellowship at Frontline Solutions – a social entrepreneurship consulting firm – where she learned how community engagement is crucial for successful private endeavors and public policy. Before Coro, Marielle spent three years at Deloitte – living in DC and NYC – as a Strategy and Innovation Consultant, honing her skills in design, user experience, facilitation, innovation, and strategy. She became one of Deloitte’s resident experts in Smart Cities and sustainability. During Coro, Marielle looks forward to unraveling the complexity of creating and implementing public policy. After Coro, Marielle aims to focus on Smart City, sustainability, and water policy that applies a community-based, user experience lens to create meaningful and equitable change in New York City.

Morgan Pearlman HR&A Advisors Fellow Bachelor of Arts in Public Service and Communications University of Pennsylvania, 2017 Morgan, a Dallas, Texas native, is committed to championing the cause for those who cannot do so for themselves. She believes that communication is key to creating positive social change. In the future, Morgan hopes to advocate for domestic women’s rights by reframing the message of today’s women’s movement and inspiring national female confidence. Morgan graduated in 2017 Summa Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania where she majored in Public Service and Communications and minored in Consumer Psychology. While in college, Morgan interned at CBS News, where she gained an appreciation for the intersection of media and politics. While working in news media, Morgan grew to fully understand the importance of perception and how one’s perception is their true reality. During her time at Penn, Morgan continued her work with Champions of Discovery, a nonprofit she co-founded while in high school that is committed to educating families whose loved ones suffer from IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) or Crohn’s Disease. Through the Coro Fellowship Morgan hopes to explore her interdisciplinary interests in public affairs and is eager to learn how she can most effectively make an impact in her greater community.



Nina Stender Accenture Fellow Bachelor of Arts in Government and Social Studies Wesleyan University, 2016 Nina is passionate about understanding and strengthening the roles of legislation, institutional structures, and social norms in order to create more inclusive and equitable local, national, and global communities. Nina was raised in Hong Kong, where her environmental and human rights activism led to her interest in internal and external influences on societal and governmental practices. At Wesleyan University, Nina double majored in International Politics and the multidisciplinary College of Social Studies. She received funding to conduct independent research on Hong Kong’s decolonization process in the British National Archives. She has also volunteered on a statewide election campaign in Maryland, worked for a California-based startup developing a legislative activism app, and managed long term investigations and a trial case as a Paralegal in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Rackets Bureau. Nina currently volunteers for an organization serving low-income immigrant communities, and is a certified yoga teacher, a passionate and experimental cook, and an avid language learner. She is bilingual in English and Mandarin Chinese, and continually seeks opportunities to improve her Spanish. Nina looks forward to further broadening her exposure to all sectors of public affairs, and hopes to experiment with innovative and entrepreneurial approaches to building coalitions and empowering communities.

Taylor McClain Goldman Sachs Fellow Bachelor of Arts in American Studies Wesleyan University, 2017 Taylor describes her passion and purpose as fighting injustice so all people are afforded their rightful opportunity to thrive. A graduate from Wesleyan University (‘17), she looks forward to applying the knowledge of systems of oppression that she gathered through studying race, ethnicity, and civic engagement. Born and raised in NYC and its suburbs, she has begun this work in her own communities. As an intern for The Dream Unfinished, she organized the NYC nonprofit’s first civil rights benefit concert in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Taylor launched a social venture to facilitate racial justice seminars for students and provide diversity and inclusion consultation for the School for Ethics and Global Leadership, her high school alma mater. Taylor generated the same celebration of diversity and respect for a more nuanced idea of normal when directing a leadership training program for 16-year-old girls at Chimney Corners Camp YMCA. Taylor is most looking forward to gaining insight to ensure the law functions as a tool for long-lasting justice in the lives and communities of marginalized people. Recognizing the complexity of wicked problems that prevent the realization of human rights for all, she is excited to take on the challenge.



Zachary Litif Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy Hofstra University, 2013 While he calls himself a Mainer, Zachary Litif is more of an urbanite than he likes to admit, yet he still has a thirst for adventure. After graduating from Hofstra University, in experiencing the lost post-grad life, he decided he was going to bike across America. In an effort to make that possible, Zach took a paralegal job in Boston while he saved up and planned for his trip and to eventually apply to law school. Over the next three years Zach made the move from personal injury to intellectual property law; which he thought was a dream job in line with his future goals. To his elation, he discovered in that time that the passion in his life was the vehicle that made it all possible: the bicycle. He realized without his bicycle he would never have been able to get to work, school, or eventually coast to coast. Freshly returning from his cross-country adventure to dive into his Fellowship year, Zach is excited to share his experiences from the trail and the bumpy road that led there. Zach aspires to see the world on bikes and is looking forward to developing the skills and network to help make that happen.

Zakariah Malik Master of Arts in Special Education, Loyola Marymount University, 2016 Bachelor of Arts in Government, Wesleyan University, 2014 Zak Malik is a proud Brooklyn native that credits his experience growing up in New York for shaping him into the advocate he is today. While he loves this city, Zak has always questioned the social, economic, and educational inequities that he witnessed as a multiethnic child growing up in Brooklyn. Zak attended Wesleyan University, where he majored in Government to understand how policies perpetuate inequity. Upon graduating from Wesleyan, he was drawn towards Teach For America. Through TFA, Zak taught high school special education in San Jose, CA, where he grew passionate about working for students with disabilities. He worked towards his MA in Special Education, graduating from Loyola Marymount University. Prior to Coro, Zak was a Policy and Advocacy Summer Fellow for Leaders of Educational Equity, where he researched local, state, and federal education policies. In addition to education, Zak is also interested in the evolving role media plays in today’s political realm and is interested in learning how to best utilize media to achieve his goals. Zak is ecstatic about his Coro year and is hoping to leverage the knowledge and experience gained as a Fellow to be a champion for the disenfranchised communities of New York.

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FELLOWS PROGRAM IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS FELLOWS BIOGRAPHIES · passion led her to a career as an advocacy journalist and to New York. After graduating from the Plan II Honors program at